Battle-hardened Leinster hold off Toulon fightback to reach Champions Cup final

Leinster produced a battling performance and survived a late scare to reach the Investec Champions Cup final by beating Toulon 29-25 in Dublin.

The Irish heavyweights, four-time tournament winners, will face holders Bordeaux-Begles or Premiership champions Bath in the final on May 23rd.

It was far from plain sailing – Leinster started the second half with two players sin-binned and Toulon produced a thrilling points-laden finale – but the hosts’ desire and resilience shone through.

Flankers Jack Conan and Josh van der Flier scored tries in the first period, while centre Garry Ringrose and captain Caelan Doris also touched down, and fly-half Harry Byrne kicked a penalty and three conversions.

Toulon did not disappear quietly, trailing by just three points at the interval, and two late tries hauled them back into the contest, but they had to be content with scores from Seta Tuicuvu, Baptiste Serin and Gael Drean, plus two Melvyn Jaminet penalties and two conversions.

Byrne and Jaminet both missed early penalty opportunities, the Toulon full-back from just inside his own half, before Leinster struck following several attacking phases.

Van der Flier and scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park both went close, with Toulon finally running out of defensive numbers as Conan powered his way over and Byrne added the conversion.

Leinster, though, were dealt a major injury blow inside the opening quarter when centre Robbie Henshaw appeared to be knocked out following an attempted tackle. The game was delayed for six minutes while he received treatment before being placed on a stretcher and taken off.

Jaminet then found his penalty radar to cut the deficit, yet Leinster continued to create opportunities and were only denied a second try when